De Rossi: “The players performed as always”

What sort of response did you get from the players, considering how compact your opponents were and also playing at a stadium that made itself heard while Roma didn’t have any travelling fans getting behind the team?

“First of all, the fans don’t go out on the pitch and top teams are capable of winning and playing their game wherever they go, but yes, it was a tough match. We felt it might be this sort of game because they’re dangerous with the ball at their feet and it’s hard to close them down. I always ask them to play with aggression, but you need to put in a lot of legwork to be aggressive against a team that moves the ball around well. That goes for us as well.

“Before the game, I wanted to try to motivate them, but I then said to them that I didn’t need to say anything because based on what I’ve seen, the players always turn in a strong performance. I think we’ve done that today as well, knowing that there are moments where you need to dig in, when the opposition passes the ball around well and puts together interesting moves, switching players around, which was very similar to what we were doing.”

Romelu Lukaku was telling Sky Sport earlier about what has changed, with Roma filling up the penalty area more. Was that the sort of performance, especially with the goal, that you expected from him?

“We’re talking about one of the best players in the world in that position. It would be wrong to settle for less, but he did turn in a good performance, just as I said he did against Cagliari. He gets five or six shots in on goal per game. If he does that for the next 14 league games plus the Europa League ties… He scores goals because that’s what he was born to do. He’d already bagged plenty of Premier League goals by the age of 19. There’s nothing to be surprised about.

“In terms of packing out the box, if you do that, one player might end up on their own. Lukaku needs to be able to score when he has a man on him as well, as he did tonight. I’m pleased with his attitude and his performances. That goes for him and his team-mates.”

As for the goal that you let in, was there a mistake in terms of movement?

“It’s not about mistakes. I don’t really want to emphasise the error. You could say the mistake starts with me. We know that time is limited. I took over the role mid-season and there’s no time to do everything that we might want to do. If you often concede goals in the same way, however, it means the coach needs to work more on that area.

“We’ve had few training sessions this week, but we did focus on this area in one of them because just as we want to fill the area with lots of players when attacking, we know it’s dangerous when our opponents do that to us. First of all, we need to take up better positions in and around the goal before the cross comes in. Once we’ve taken up those positions, the midfielders getting back and the two centre-backs need to divide the players there between themselves.

“If the opponents send up eight players, they’ll outnumber us. On average, however, it’s more like four or five and no more than that. This means we have enough men to cover them. Before doing that, however, we have to divide up the space to defend. That’s something I need to work on more and in a more effective way. Now we’ll have Evan Ndicka as well, who is a player I’ve not coached before, so we’ll have scope to adjust this key part of the game.

“We’ve conceded too many goals from high crosses like the ones Inter were putting in. It’s a sign: it means I need to wake up and work harder on it.”

Could you explain Leandro Paredes’ positioning?

“When you build play as a three, it’s not necessary for the central player to always be the one in the middle. Sometimes one full-back tucks in and the other one pushes up. Sometimes Paredes drops deep. Against Cagliari we built play as a four and Bryan Cristante dropped back at right-back. It’s important to have a man there who knows how to build the play. What matters is that they take on that role. It doesn’t matter who it is.

“Of course for simplicity’s sake, it’s often the two centre-backs with a full-back or the midfielder sitting in front of the defence. I think the difference with our equaliser came from Paredes when he made the pass. If he had picked up the ball and played a 20-yard pass straight away, they would’ve shifted over and we wouldn’t have managed to do what we did.

“Instead, he drove forward. He took the ball to within a few yards of his opponent, who had to tuck inside and he played a pass to [Leonardo] Spinazzola that set him up in a one-on-one with the defender. That’s what we want when we get to that part of the pitch because while we can give the players ideas and notions to implement, they’re the ones who make the difference. As always, it’s down to the players.”